


Muscle for Hire

by lainathiel



Category: Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed (Video Game) - Fandom, Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey - Fandom
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Major Original Character(s), Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, POV Original Character, POV Original Female Character, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-03 01:24:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17274458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lainathiel/pseuds/lainathiel
Summary: Alexios has a bounty on his head. Usually, the way he deals with these things is he faces them head on, if he can. He eliminates the threat before it can eliminate him.He's tried, countless times. The mercenary has eluded him and made him feel like a fool every single one of those times.Until now.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was nothing but freeform scribbles as I practiced action scenes and more original character shaping, and somehow it turned into a short story. Then it developed on its own and now I have no idea where it's going. Enjoy.

''Well, here I am,'' I say, throwing up my hands in defeat, barely wheezing the words out, ''You've finally caught me.''  
  
It's a nightmarishly hot day, even outside, but in this small room we're crammed in, the heat is almost palpable, a living thing taking up space in this room with us. We're both covered in thick sweat lathering our skin, equal parts from all the running and the scorching heat of the Korinthian summer. I am too aware of the drops sliding down my back now, and the way strands of my hair stick to my neck makes me want to crawl out of my skin even more. The sun is setting but it's like it makes no difference. The rays reaching through the only small window in the room fall right across my enemy's face, somehow making it even harder to breathe.  
  
''You thought you could keep running forever?'' he asks me, taking one step closer. I take one step back in kind, knowing there's nothing but the wall behind me.  
  
I can't accept that this is my end, irrationally so. Yet everything is stacked against me. My opponent is both stronger and more skilled at close combat than me, so there's no fighting him. There's no tackling him and running past him either - Hades take me but he takes up all the room, let alone a tiny door. The window might be my only chance, although it's too small to run through quickly, and it's closer to him than it is to me.  
  
''You must be joking,'' he says, almost amazed. He must have caught me glancing at the window.  
  
''What, you thought I would come quietly?'' I ask, biding time.  
  
''No,'' he replies, ''But then again, I didn't count on catching you today either. That was you.''  
  
I want to curse. This _is_ my fault. All it took was being stupid for one short moment and one small decision. You take one wrong turn and go through one wrong door and you're done. All of this being my fault makes it a million times worse.  
  
I curse at myself.  
  
''The irony of the bounty being on my head,'' my enemy chuckles, pointing his blade at me and taking just one tentative step closer, ''And the hunter becoming prey. You should never have taken the contract.''  
  
Don't I know it. That was my mistake too. I'm smarter than this. I always check my sources, always investigate the targets. I never let the drachmae blind me.  
  
Never until now.  
  
''Listen, Alexios,'' I dare to straighten up and fake confidence, slowly putting a hand on a dagger strapped behind me, ''Or is it Deimos? No one seems to be able to agree on that one.''  
  
That makes him angry.  
  
''Stop talking,'' he hisses, taking another step toward me, this time close enough to casually place the tip of his shortsword against my throat, ''You don't know anything.''  
  
''I know enough now,'' I say, never flinching, ''See, I didn't much care if it's this cult that's after you or someone else. Or whether you're with them still or not. And maybe that was my mistake. Maybe it was my foolishness to go after you without knowing more at the time. But I needed that drachmae.''  
  
''A misthios through and through,'' he smirks and speaks almost with disgust, pressing his blade against me just a little bit harder, ''In the end, you're truly all the same.''  
  
''And what are you, Alexios?'' I ask him, ''What have _you_ been all this time, other than muscle for hire?''  
  
I regret it the moment I say it. In my attempts to buy some time until an opportunity opens up for me, I've only managed to make my enemy angrier and more dangerous. The sweaty hand on the hilt of my dagger clenches around it stronger.  
  
''Don't speak of what you don't know, misthios,'' he says again, with venom, ''The world is a much larger place than the likes of you could comprehend. Don't pretend to understand any of it. You might just catch up, and then it'll cost you your head.''  
  
''Am I not parting with my head anyway?''  
  
He pauses, a glint of playfulness in his eyes. We both know he's won this one, and he enjoys the power. Maybe I could whip out that dagger and with one quick slash cut his throat and run, but the chances are so small that I wouldn't dare try. Right now, even talking seems like the option that makes me more likely to survive.  
  
''I could kill you,'' he says, never moving his blade - if I so much as cough, I might die, ''After all, I wanted to kill you before you ended up killing me - which you would, as soon as I closed my eyes somewhere. And besides, you've given me quite a lot of trouble. It wasn't easy catching you, misthios. I wasn't sure if I was hunting a woman or a fox.''  
  
I sense there's a ''but'', but I dare not hope for it. I'm still ready to fight, even if I have to go down fighting. The hold on my dagger doesn't falter, though my heartbeat might.  
  
''But killing you now would be almost too easy,'' he adds, almost casually, ''And truthfully, a waste. You have talents I could use.''  
  
''I won't be your slave, Spartan,'' I growl.  
  
''No, you'll be something much better,'' he corrects me, ''You'll do what you do best. You'll be my muscle for hire.''


	2. Chapter 2

''So, let me get this right,'' I speak up over the wind, as we slowly ride through the woods, ''You don't kill me for going after you, but instead hire me... as a misthios... to help you?''  
  
''I think you should take the win and shut up about it,'' Alexios tells me, his voice reverberating against my back. My hands are tied and I'm completely leaning against him as he directs us somewhere still unknown to me. I have no idea where we're going or what his plans are with me, yet I don't feel that I'm in any immediate danger. If he wanted to kill me, he would have done it by now.  
  
''And what exactly will you pay me with, might I ask?'' I offer, ''You don't seem like you own much in this world now.''  
  
''How about your life? That seems like a fair bargain,'' he offers back.   
  
I'm smart enough to accept it.  
  
*  
  
We ride for days through the wilderness, avoiding even the smallest farms and villages. Even the faintest hint of a suggestion of four walls and a roof above our heads seems to rub my captor the wrong way. He is _that_ paranoid. Whatever's truly hunting him hasn't given him peace in a very long while.  
  
We stop a couple of times a day just to eat, but we don't dally. We make proper camp only at night, which is the only time we manage to scrap up a few hours of rest. Alexios proves to be excellent at finding sheltered spots, and almost as good at hunting as me. He doesn't untie my hands for any reason whatsoever, not even when I offer to help him hunt down some food for us.  
  
It's uncomfortable with my hands tied in the first few days, and hard to fall asleep. I think of escape; of course I do. Just because the Spartan hasn't killed me yet doesn't mean that he won't once he's gotten what he needs. But every night, no matter how much and how hard I try to fool him, he sleeps only once I'm out cold. And after a while it becomes too difficult to keep sleep from betraying me. Pure exhaustion defeats me, and I simply cannot wait him out. It becomes clear to me very quickly that my escape won't be in the night.  
  
Alexios is a dangerous man, and not simply for his skills in fighting and war. Yes, he is big and strong and could probably snap me in two if it ever came to close combat, but that's not what makes him truly terrifying. He's lithe, and he's almost as light on his feet as I'll ever be. You don't see him coming until it's already too late, and you never catch him unawares. Even if you don't think he's looking, he is. This is not only a fighter, but a survivor. Whatever he's been through has turned him into a predator, a wild cat. Nothing surprises him, and nothing sneaks up on him. Not even me.  
  
Yet the deadliest thing about him might be his charm. You'd think him a brute, but he has a way with words, _and_ his body language. I can imagine he's played countless people like a child's harp. His face betrays nothing, and everything you see in it, you see only because he wants you to. If you ever manage to catch anything in his eyes as he speaks, it's gone before you know it, and you're left wondering if whatever it was had even been there in the first place.  
  
''May I _now_ know where we're going and what I'm supposed to be doing?'' I ask as we sit around the fire, washed over by the fool moon, ''It's been days. And these are burning my wrists worse than the fires of Hephaestus.''  
  
''You're a sneaky little fox, misthios,'' he tells me, eyes on the rabbit leg that he's currently tearing apart, ''I'm not releasing you until I must.''  
  
''How will you trust me with what's obviously an important task, if you don't trust me with my hands untied?''  
  
''When the time comes, you won't have much of a choice,'' he replies, ''Tonight, you might.''  
  
''And what _are_ my choices, mind you?'' I insist, ''If I wanted to run, I would have by now. These binds are not stopping me from doing that.''  
  
''No, but they're stopping you from slicing my throat whilst I'm sleeping,'' he replies, this time showing me that playful glint in his eyes, ''And I need my throat intact.''  
  
''You do realize I could do that even with my hands tied,'' I tell him, ''Besides, you don't sleep much, do you?''  
  
The glint in his eyes and the smirk that decorated his face are gone before I can pinpoint it. Maybe my company is not the reason he doesn't sleep much, after all. Maybe it's whatever's haunting him.  
  
''Look, if you plan on being fair, I am willing to buy back my life with whatever you want me to do,'' I tell him honestly.  
  
''Not knowing what your task truly was is what got you in trouble in the first place,'' Alexios replies.  
  
''True,'' I admit, ''But this time, it doesn't matter. Whatever it is, my life's worth it.''  
  
He pauses for a second, as though thinking on it. Then, he nods in acceptance.  
  
''What is your name, misthios?''  
  
''Kleio,'' I reply, almost surprised that he's asked me. It's been days and he hasn't asked me just about anything of any importance.  
  
''Well, Kleio, I don't go back on my word,'' he tells me, ''Or at least, not anymore. You help me with this task and you buy back your life. I will let you walk away, but you'll also have to never again come after me or mine. And I need to be sure of it before I release you.''  
  
I don't say anything to that, because there isn't anything to say. It makes sense. I wouldn't release me if I was him. And if there's only a speck of truth in what he's saying, then it's still my best shot. I need to play along. I need to earn his trust. I need to help him, and pray for the best.  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

''We're in Megaris, aren't we?''  
  
Megarian summer doesn't seem any kinder than the scorching days in Korinthia. The sun is beating down on us every time we peek out through the trees, and even in the shade, the air is almost thick.  
  
''Good catch, misthios,'' Alexios replies. He hasn't called me by my name ever since that first time he's asked for it. ''Though I assume someone like you would have gotten around most of the Greek world,'' he adds.  
  
''You'd be surprised,'' I mutter, trying to make myself more comfortable on the horse. My binds somehow don't seem as tight anymore - maybe because I've grown oddly used to them.  
  
''Is that a no?'' he asks, almost surprised.  
  
''I suppose I've traveled more than most,'' I say, ''But definitely not all over the Greek world, thank the gods. Korinthia alone has given me enough headache for three lifetimes.''  
  
He chuckles lightly. It's short and quiet, yet the sound of his laughter stops the world. It takes me aback, like it's the most unnatural thing in the whole wide cosmos, and I cannot fathom it. I haven't heard him laugh before, as light and quiet a chuckle as it was. And I definitely haven't found any true genuineness in him until this moment. It shocks me.  
  
But then it makes me relax. For some reason, irrationally, I feel just a tiny bit safer.  
  
''I know what you mean,'' he tells me, though tiredly, traces and ghosts of laughter still on his tongue.  
  
''I suppose you've been all over,'' I offer.  
  
''Most places,'' he admits, ''Megaris, more than once. You?''  
  
''Once, passing through,'' I reply, ''Though I don't remember it being this Spartan, the last time I was here.''  
  
The red banners of Lakonia fly everywhere, almost adding to the scalding heat. There seems to be a Spartan camp for every mile we cover, and there hasn't been a fort in Megaris so far that isn't fully garrisoned. I know that the war has been advancing, but I didn't know Sparta was this strong this close to the northern lands. They're at Athens' doorstep, and something big is coming.  
  
Certain parts of Greece have been lucky enough to stay out of their conflict so far - even if technically allied or ruled by either state, war hasn't touched them. Real fighting hasn't, at least. The whole of Greece has suffered in different ways, but at least some parts were spared the fires and the blood. I've been smart enough to keep to them. Sure, war is profitable, but the goal is to earn drachmae _and_ keep my head.  
  
Some good that's done me.  
  
''Can we _now_ get some walls and a roof? It sure would be a nice change after all the dirt and grime,'' I look up at Alexios. He smirks in response.  
  
''Maybe,'' he says.  
  
I take the win.  
  
*  
  
Whoever is hunting my enemy-turned-companion must not be in Megaris. We travel more freely, stopping by smaller settlements to get supplies and some proper rest without looking over our shoulders. Maybe it's the fact that Megaris is under Spartan leadership now that puts him more at ease. Or maybe I'm not even aware of how much I don't know.  
  
I have tried to ask questions without being too pushy, but my Spartan captor betrays nothing. I have never been the most patient of people, yet I've been tied up and dragged along across Greece for days without any idea of what's happening and without any inclinations to ask too many direct questions. Funny what having one's life on the line can do to a person.  
  
''We'll be in Megara soon,'' he tells me, on a surprisingly fresh day in the Valley of King Lelex.  
  
''I assume that means you'll finally tell me what the shit I'm supposed to be doing?''  
  
He smirks. He seems to be endlessly amused by me for some reason. I don't mind. It makes him less terrifying, and I'd like to think it also makes him less inclined to kill me.  
  
''I'll have to tell you, won't I,'' he almost teases, ''We'll have to plan everything in detail, if you're going to be of any help.''  
  
I want to say something quite snarky back, but I never manage to. All thoughts evaporate, and my mind goes into overdrive in less than a moment as Alexios' horse neighs, jumps, and almost pushes me off.  
  
It's almost a moment too late when I realize what's happening. By the time I turn to look and see Alexios on the ground, the horse is up on its hind legs again, almost screaming. I grab onto air, and this time I'm successfully thrown off, sent flying to the ground. I do my best to fall properly, but the impact hurts and the pain in my side is searing anyway, and when I open my eyes and push away the pain, all I see is the wretched horse galloping away.  
  
Noise. Yelling and cries and sounds of steel being drawn. I roll over only to see three men against Alexios, ready to pounce on him like lions. My mind is still fuzzy and I don't exactly register what they're saying, but I soon recognize the dialect. Not that it matters. Three against one, and more sure to come if they are who I think they are. And my hands are tied.  
  
By the time I'm back on my feet, the fighting is already thick. The three attackers seem to not care about me at all as they push against Alexios who somehow manages to keep them at bay.  
  
For a moment, I let myself be mesmerized. I've seen some good fighters in my life, but I've never seen anything like _that_. Alexios is not only keeping the assailants at bay, but advancing on them. Three at a time, and not a single opening for a blade to get him. I cannot believe I ever thought I could kill this man. He doesn't even fight like a mortal.  
  
This is my chance. If I don't run now, I never will. Megara isn't that far off; all I'd have to do is follow the road and keep going. I could escape Alexios now without ever worrying if he'll honor our deal in the end. And if the deserters win and kill him, then it'll be even worse for me. I look to the woods. Maybe I could even find that wretched horse.  
  
Seconds stretch like days. I almost don't hear or see the fight that's happening right before me.  
  
''Hades take me, I must be crazy,'' I curse. Just as Alexios pushes one of the three away so hard that the man stumbles backward, I push in like I've never developed a brain since I was born.  
  
Using the moment, I slide and sweep the staggering man off his feet. He falls on his back with a thud, right next to me, dropping his sword. He doesn't have time to realize what's happened by the time my knee pushes air out of his lungs, possibly cracking something, and I know that if I don't kill him now, in my circumstances, I'll be the one dead in the next two minutes. The sword is too far away; there's no getting it.  
  
Desperately, I flip around, and with my hands tied around the Athenian's neck, I pull. I pull and pull and use all my strength to keep him down with my legs, and as I keep pulling praying to all the gods that my strength doesn't fail me and I don't let go before he's gone, he's fighting me every step of the way, grabbing and clawing and ripping my skin.  
  
Until he's not. After a second, or an hour, or an eternity, the man at my mercy is dead. With one last kick, he goes limp beneath my grasp. All strength leaves me at once. I suddenly remember to breathe.  
  
The sound of fighting wakes me up from my daze. It's not over. When I look up, the two remaining assailants are still on Alexios, deciding he's still the bigger threat, yet now they don't have their backs to me anymore. I run for the sword.  
  
I ponder cutting myself loose first, but there's no time. Alexios is bloodier than I'd like, and even he can only fight for so long. He may be the better warrior, but the Athenians stand a better chance of exhausting him.  
  
So with my hands still tied and a sword between them, stupider than I've ever been, I strike.


	4. Chapter 4

I sit on the ground, hands still tied, a sword's hilt still in them, staring at the pool of blood before my feet. It's been over for a while now, yet we haven't spoken a word or moved since. Alexios is pacing around, then crouching every now and then, trying to collect himself. I feel nothing but exhausted.  
  
''Fucking Athenians,'' he spits after a while, kicking a pebble so hard that it seems to fly all the way to Megara, ''Piece of shit bandits!''  
  
I let him curse for a while. I would be doing the same if I wasn't so bloody tired. There's something about the blood of the man I've just killed that's mesmerizing. It's still trickling out of him, pooling ever wider beneath my boots.  
  
For a second, I pity the Athenians, all three. War makes monsters of people, and these nameless men were no strangers to that metamorphosis. Sparta comes, Athens loses, some stand and fight and die, and some choose to flee and forsake everything they've ever known and live. These three ran. They lived. And now they're dead anyway.  
  
I've never been one to judge a deserter. Who wouldn't be tempted to try and run and live when death in battle is absolutely certain? I've never been in that situation and so cannot claim to know what I would and wouldn't have done. But I know there's no real, decent life for a deserter anyway, no matter what. A deserter may live, but he's shamed and shunned by all the world around him until the end of his days. There is no place he can go back to, so how else would he survive without turning to banditry?  
  
''Fucking horse!'' Alexios kicks again, ''All of our supplies. The maps.''  
  
''We have weapons, and we have drachmae,'' I tell him, ''We have our heads on our shoulders, most importantly. That's all we need.''  
  
He turns around and looks at me for the very first time, and it's like he's never seen me before. He looks at me like he's meeting me for the very first time, and I wonder if it's something I've said.  
  
Something dawns on him. He wipes some of the blood off his brow and approaches me, crouching down. With a single twist of his blade, he releases me from my bonds. For a moment, I'm taken aback, and all I can think to do is rub my wrists. Somehow, all of this seems surreal, unfathomable.  
  
Alexios takes the sword from in front of me, and straps it onto him. Then, he offers me a hand. I take it, and he pulls me back to my feet.  
  
''It will take longer on foot, so we shouldn't waste time,'' he says.  
  
''No weapons?'' I ask teasingly.  
  
''Don't push it, misthios,'' he smirks, ''I still have more than enough rope.''  
  
*  
  
We have enough drachmae to buy the food we need for a while, but it trickles away quickly. Megara is still a few days off, especially on foot, and Alexios doesn't waste time on hunting. He's also agreed on stealing a horse or two because all this walking will take forever, but we haven't had the opportunity yet. It's like the Spartans have taken every last animal in Megaris, and every camp so far has seemed like a larger bite than we can chew.  
  
Luckily, there's always work for a misthios. We take up easy tasks the Spartans need taken care of, such as transporting weapons and fetching physicians. We don't take anything risky. It prolongs our trip a few days, but it gives us the drachmae we'll most definitely need.  
  
Alexios doesn't tie my hands again, but he doesn't give me a chance to come near a weapon either. That's understandable, I suppose. He's given me a bigger chance at earning his trust than I ever would have risked with anybody. I catch myself admiring it, instead of thinking it foolish. Maybe he simply has more courage than me. And I don't doubt that he's clever. He wouldn't have come this far if he wasn't. If he trusts me even a little bit, then it must be because he knows he truly can.  
  
The truly odd thing is, it's reciprocated. Nothing so far has given me any reason to believe he won't honor our deal. If anything, I've ever only seen him fair and honest. He doesn't let the Spartans step over him, and he doesn't let them screw him over with the drachmae. He stands his ground, and intimidates whoever he needs, but never unfairly. He hasn't been dishonest since we've crossed paths.  
  
Until now.  
  
''This is the best chance we're going to get,'' Alexios tells me, as we crouch in the bushes, looking at the camp ahead. The fires are still burning, but most of the camp is asleep. We've counted five men on watch: two at the gates, one at the watch-tower, and two more patrolling the northern walls. We could take them easily, but we don't want to shed blood over some gods-forsaken horses.  
  
I nod. The plan is simple and clear, and there's no need to dwell on it. Moving immediately, I make my way through the bushes. Most of the growth is taller than me in this position, and provides all the cover I'll ever need, but I need to move carefully, unless I want to be skewered by an arrow.  
  
Bit by bit, I make my way to the smaller growth that hugs the walls. Slowly, I make my way to the rocks down west, because it's my only chance of climbing the wretched palisade. The wall's height isn't the problem as much as it's the complete lack of any foothold, and the spikes on top for good measure.  
  
That isn't the problem from where I climb over, and latch myself onto the watch-tower. I move like I've climbed this tower my entire life, which isn't far from the truth. I've climbed taller, and I've climbed worse, and by the time I reach the top, the watchman is none the wiser. Blocking his airways, and enduring his kicking, I manage to knock him out. Then, extinguishing his torch, I give the sign to Alexios.  
  
He makes quick work of the two at the gate, though with more luck than skill. The way Alexios punched the second Spartan at just the right spot was nothing but Zeus guiding his fist, and if it hadn't been for Zeus, this whole thing could have gone awry. I climb down the way I came as he pulls the knocked out pair into the bushes. The rest is easy, and takes less than a moment.  
  
By the time we're riding away, the whole camp is awake. There's shouting and running and arrows flying past us as we gallop into the woods, but we lose them quickly. After a while there's nothing but the sound of the wind and the horses' hooves, and an occasional animal prowling about. We slow down once it gets too dark to be safe.  
  
''You sent me up that tower without so much as a knife,'' I grumble as we move at a slow trot now, finding our way to a country road.  
  
''You handled yourself pretty well,'' Alexios replies, hiding the taunting smirk.  
  
''I don't see how I'm supposed to buy back my life from you,'' I continue grumbling, ''If I'm to die over a horse that's not even Spartan.''  
  
Alexios almost snorts. ''Please. It seems to me you've picked the wrong trade. With how dramatic you are, you belong in a theatre,'' he doesn't hide his grin now, ''Besides, didn't we agree on doing it clean and not spilling blood unnecessarily?''  
  
''A weapon would be just in case, _Alexios_ ,'' I glare at him.  
  
''Alright, _Kleio_ ,'' he grins still, endlessly amused by me, ''Maybe next time, if you behave.''  
  
As we stand on this hill now, looking at the city of Megara and it's glittering lights down below, I wonder at the sound of my name coming from Alexios' mouth, and why I want to hear it more.

''Hades take me, but I must be crazy.''


End file.
